I love New Orleans and used to visit every year, usually for JazzFest at the end of April, pre-Katrina, starting in about 1990. I have only visited once after the storm, and found it to be a tragic experience. The food was still wonderful, the Vieux Carre didn’t really look much different, neither did the Garden District, but Lord, the 9th Ward was just a pit of despair.
I’m terrified that unless something profoundly different happens, we are going to end up with a gentrified, much more White, NOLA, cut off from its history and its past, and just a sad shadow of its former self.
People are trying hard to prevent this – The Tipitina Project is trying to encourage new young musicians, etc. I hope it takes hold and works, or the loss will be incalculable.